A Change of Heart
by Shinnite
Summary: Somewhere along time someone had a change of heart...someone did not kill when he should have killed. Saying anything else would ruin the story


A Change of Heart

A Change of Heart 

Suboshi sighed as he made his way back to Kutouand Nakago. He knew very well the price for failure, and to make matters worse, it had been his idea. He shuddered at the thought. His idea. The very phrase made him sick. Yet, only an hour ago, he had been willing and eager to perform the now disgusting task. But, a little girl stopped him with one word. One innocent little word. 

30 minutes ago, on the way to Tamahome's village   
Suboshi was seething with barely contained rage. How dare they! How dare they kill his Aniki! He grinned wickedly, now they were going to pay. Yes, they were going to pay dearly.   
Everyone moved out of his way as he walked down the road. They were able to take in all the evidence: the wicked smile (so much like Nakago ::shudder::), the crazed look in his eye, his body quivering with barely suppressed rage. These were the signs of a dangerous man. His wicked grin only grew wider as the sight of a calm, quiet village greeted him. He started chuckling in a low tone; it wouldn't stay that what for long.   
He took silent pleasure in the fact that people immediately swerved to get as much distance from him as possible. His eyes started sparkling with barely contained excitement. He was almost there. Soon his revenge for his beloved Aniki would come in full circle.   


  
Elsewhere, a figure sat straight up, his body covered with cold sweat. His eyes grew wide as he read the mind of someone close, yet so far away. He wouldn'the couldn't! No!! Don't do it!!' However, if anyone heard his silent scream, there was no evidence of it. The figure closed his eyes and concentrated. He couldn't let him go through with it; he wouldn't be able to live with himself after he realized what he'd done. He had to do thisfor all their sakes.   


  
Suboshi stood in front of the door to Tamahome's house, a crazed, malicious grin on his face. Oh he would pay! Tamahome would pay all right. Nobody kills his Aniki and gets away with it. Pretty soon, he would know the emptiness of lost siblings. Suboshi reached up and knocked. It would be much better this way, much less struggling, and he would be able to prepare for Tamahome's arrival. " Nii-sama?" A voice called from behind the door. "Aniki, is that you?" Suboshi froze at the word aniki.   
"Aniki?" He whispered, only dimly aware of the opening of the door. His face paled and his whole body shook from shock as he realized what he had almost done. He stared at the girl standing in the doorway, a worried look on her face; she couldn't have been much older than seven. However, his thoughts were on something else. A day he would never forget for the rest of his life; a day he wished he could forget.   


  
"Aniki!" Shouted a younger looking Suboshi. "Aniki, where are you going?!" Chibi-Amiboshi grinned at his younger twin.   
"I just have an errand to run, Shu-kun. Don't worry, I'll be right back," so saying, Chibi-Amiboshi closed the door, leaving Chibi-Suboshi behind. Chibi-Suboshi stared dejectedly at the floor; his aniki had left him behind only a handful of times all his life, but he hated each and everyone. Chibi-Suboshi's thoughts were broken as he heard a knock on the door.   
"Aniki!!" He exclaimed happily, excited that his aniki had only been gone a few minutes, and was finally back. However, when he opened the door, his aniki wasn't anywhere to be found; only a soldier. Soldier?' Chibi-Suboshi wondered, most of his brain still dwelling on the fact that his aniki was still gone. Too late did he realize the sword coming toward him.   
"Shu!!" A voice exclaimed, and he was roughly pushed from the side and out of the way of the blade. His rescuer, however, was not so lucky.   
" Tou-san?" Suboshi said quietly, obviously shaken up. " Tou-san, what's wrong?"   
"Shu! Shunkaku, run!!" His father choked out, blood flowing down his chin. He heard footsteps to his left and a horrified gasp. He turned to see his aniki kneel over his fallen mother, a sword and arrow in her back.   
"Shu-kun!! Where are you?!" Chibi-Amiboshi choked out through his tears.   
"Here, Aniki! I'm over here!!" Chibi-Amiboshi rushed over to his brother, oblivious of the soldier coming up from behind. "ANIKI!! WATCH OUT!!" Amiboshi turned at the last second, only receiving a glancing blow to the temple. Chibi-Suboshi rose in horror and determination as he watched the soldier prepare for the final blow. "HEY!!! YOU GET AWAY FROM MY ANIKI!!!!!!!!!!" Chibi-Suboshi screamed, only dimly aware that he was glowing with a strange blue glow. The soldier turned slowly, a wicked grin on his face.   
"For that, I'll give you the privilege of going first. Your brother will meet you in Hell, boy!" The soldier screamed, bringing his sword down to slash at Chibi-Suboshi. Chibi-Suboshi only had a moment's warning as he saw his aniki raise his flute. Chibi-Suboshi instantly clamped his hands over his ears and closed his eyes; he didn't want to see this. "Cowering, eh, boy?" The soldier mocked, laughing. The sounds of a flute drew his attention to Chibi-Amiboshi. "Playing a final tune for your younger brother are we?" The soldier once again broke out in his maddening laughter again. Chibi-Suboshi dimly heard as the man's laughter broke into an agonizing scream, and finallysilence. 

A gentle hand on his shoulder caused him to look up. "It's alright, Shu-kun, he's dead." A brief flash of pain ran through his aniki's eyes at the word dead; he hated killing people.   
"And Kaa-san and Tou-san?" Chibi-Amiboshi averted his gaze to the floor and he briefly closed his eyes in pain.   
"They'rethey're gone Shu-kun," Chibi-Amiboshi stated, his voice starting to crack. "They're dead; it's just the two of us."   


  
"Daijobu ka, mister?" The young girl asked worriedly, her gentle voice breaking him out of his daze. He gave her a grin, and she returned it with a smile of her own. A smile that was both shy and happy at the same time; so much like his Aniki's.   
"I'm okaynow," he replied. "Arigatou, little one." With that he turned and walked away, leaving the girl with a puzzled look on her face. Opening his senses, he felt Suzaku chi. Pretty soon, the family he left behind would be greeted by their eldest son/brother. Something he could never, ever have. His smile lessened a bit as his thoughts turned back to his lost brother.   


  
The figure sighed in relief. It had been close, but he saved them. All of them. He smiled ruefully as he felt his mind slip from the little girl's. It had been a gift since birth, the ability to get into another living being's head and subtly influence them. He hated his ability, and thus rarely used it and managed to keep it a secret from everyone. Even his family. Even histwin. "Gomen nasai for leaving you, but you did the right thing. I'm proud of youShu-kun." 

Author's Notes – Don't ask me what possessed me to write this, cuz even I don't know. Of course, there are also some other fics about this particular event, I've read one of them. So, can you guess who the mystery figure is? For those of you who can (which is just about everybody, if not everybody), no, he _doesn't_ posses this ability in the series.   


The hardest part was trying to write Suboshi in character, but I think he definitely displayed some of Amiboshi's influence, ne? And while I didn't write Chiriko in character for my other one-shot, well, you can't expect someone to really take death so calmly, ne? Of course, the hardest part about writing Suboshi in character is because I'm friends with a die hard Suboshi fan who would find some way to gain possession of Tauski's tessen so she could flame me if I put him even _slightly_ OC. Hmmmmaybe I should start investing in flame-proof clothes.   
I know absolutely nothing about the day the twin's parents died, which I guess made it alot easier to write this. My imagination is a very influential tool.   
You know the drill: standard disclaimers apply. Hmm, maybe next time I'll write them in Japanese. At least it would be a change. 

~ Lady Shinnite 


End file.
